A unique day in the Major League Baseball offseason calendar is approaching.
Wednesday brings the Rule 5 Draft, when eligible prospects can be selected by any of the 30 teams and effectively pilfered from rival organizations. The catch, of course, is that these prospects have yet to debut in the majors, and the teams that select them must keep them on the active roster all season, or they’re returned to their original clubs.
The Philadelphia Phillies, as a prospective playoff contender, are statistically more likely to lose a prospect than they are to take a shot on one from another team (though that certainly can’t be ruled out). And a pair of prospect experts believe there’s one name in the Phillies organization that rivals will be circling.
On Thursday, Sam Dykstra and Jesse Borek of MLB Pipeline named right-handed pitcher Griff McGarry as the Phillies’ top Rule 5 Draft candidate, thanks to his electric stuff and gaudy strikeout totals.
“Prepare to hear McGarry’s name a good amount as his stuff continues to be promising,” wrote Dykstra and Borek. “His 93-95 mph four-seamer comes in with a flat approach and plays up with above-average extension, shortening the decision window for batters. His low-80s sweeper averaged 17-18 inches of gloveside movement in front of Statcast, and he has a mid-80s slider that’s a little shorter than that; both can generate a heavy amount of whiffs.
“But even as McGarry’s control improved from a disastrous 2024, he still walked 13.9 percent of his batters faced across all levels. A Rule 5 club would have to want to buy and build on that progress.”
There’s never any guarantee that a player gets moved in the Rule 5 process, but the consensus around the industry seems to be that McGarry is a strong candidate. MLB.com’s Cole Weintraub named him among the team’s top candidates to get selected in an article earlier this week, while Baseball America highlighted his candidacy on social media.
With 124 strikeouts and a 3.44 ERA in 83 2/3 innings this season, McGarry clearly has the pure stuff to get outs in the big leagues. If he does get selected, it will be intriguing to see if his new team intends to start him or bring him out of the bullpen.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, has a loaded starting rotation that they could still add to in the offseason, so don’t be surprised if McGarry becomes an impact Phillies reliever in the future if he isn’t selected.
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